Here's a little short story for Valentine's day... or Singles Awareness Day. ;o; Hope you guys had a good day whether you have a significant other or not. I didn't... because I'm getting a cold. :I I don't like sneezing.
I'm actually not a YinxHei shipper, but a Valentine's day story with Misaki and Hei just didn't seem likely to appear on my monitor. Oh well. Maybe next year?
Hei shied away from all the Japanese woman leering at him as he walked down the street casually, his hands thrust into his pockets. All around him were glowing hearts and people selling chocolates. Valentine's day. Every year he tried to wrap his head around the purpose of this holiday, and every year it managed to escape him. That is, if there was any reason at all. To him it looked like another day where you spent your money frivolously for things that would not last. What was the point of it all? This da y was also like the beginning of the mating season for woman, they always had their eye out for a potential mate, and somehow most of them would have their eyes land on him.
Against his will, a shiver ran up his spine as he felt just how many eyes were on him at the moment. Why had he decided to walk down a busy street at this time of day again? He should have known that all the women were in heat. It was the same thing every year, after all. Next year, he decided, he was just going to stay inside all day. Unless, of course, he had a mission that day, but then he would have a mask on and it would be night, making things 99.9% better for him than walking down a crowded street. He glanced down at what he was wearing and wondered if it was because the top button of his shirt were undone. Some women giggled and batted their eyes at him as he passed, but he paid them no attention.
Turning onto the unpopulated, residential streets brought a sigh of relief out of him as he left all the eyes behind. He was just looking forward to getting back to his apartment, making his mountain of food and relaxing for the rest of the night, since he had no job that he knew of… yet. For all he knew, they might throw one at him with only an hour's notice in advance. Sure, he could handle it, but it got quite irritating after a while. Was it too much to ask for a little time to strategize beforehand? Did they really have to throw something at him out of the blue, basically expecting him to complete their demands completely and fully every time? It was enough to drive a normal person insane. But, Hei being Hei, he just threw it behind him like a bit of trash and forgot about it for a while, but it was always still there somewhere behind him, building up.
He turned the corner into his apartment complex and noted in relief that his rowdy neighbors were nowhere to be seen or heard. Even the landlady wasn't about, complaining about this and that. If she asked him to repair her TV one more time, he was just going to fry all of its circuits and tell her to get a new one that actually worked. Either that or chuck it out the door into her husband's bonsai plants, maybe blame it on a nervous twitch. He reached his door and paused, one hand hovering over the doorknob, keys clutched in his hand, as he gave the general area one last scan. No one was around, no one was trying to bother him. He inserted the key and swung the door open, stopping in shock.
Yin sat on the floor of his room, her back resting against the walls and her legs stretched out in front of her. She was stretching her toes as he came in and she gave him one of her customary gazes, devoid of emotion. They stared at each other for a while before Yin went back to curling and uncurling her toes, her eyes drifting off to look out the window. He expected Mao to be at the window, but no one was there, just the view. He entered his apartment, closing the door behind him and setting his bag down by the closet. Hei sat down in front of her, crossing his legs beneath him.
"How'd you get in here?" He finally asked to break the silence. In reply, she lazily raised her hand and pointed at the window, "You climbed up to the second floor and entered through my window?"
Her eyes slid over to him, unreadable as always, and he had no idea whether she was telling the truth or if this was one of her rare jokes she pulled. Almost as though she knew what he was thinking, she reached into a pocket in her dress and removed some keys on a keychain.
"They made copies of your apartment keys," she said, almost sighed.
"Of course they would do that," he groaned, getting up to start making preparations for his dinner, "Do you want a glass of water or something?"
"I don't want to work right now."
He turned to look at her, "I didn't mean it for that. I meant it for drinking. The thing people normally do with a glass of water."
"Oh," she said, lamely, "Sure, then."
He quickly filled up a glass and handed it to her. She gave him a small nod of thanks as she took it into her small hands. They were so dainty, now that he looked at them. They looked fragile, like something from a doll. He was almost afraid he would break her just by standing too close to her porcelain figure. He backed away quickly, confused as to why he had never thought of her like that before. Returning to his kitchen, he shook his head a little, trying to dislodge the thought from his head. He knew she was stronger than she looked. He had witnessed firsthand just how tough she could be if she wanted to be and set her mind to it.
Opening his refrigerator, he practically emptied it of food. Anyone normal would spread the food out over a week, maybe a month if they were that careful about it. But, for him, it was enough for one meal and one meal only. Any less and he would have to go out to a restaurant to satisfy his hunger. They were grateful for the patronage, but his wallet wasn't as happy. He went to restaurants for his other meals, after all, and the money he got from his pay only stretched so far. He was just glad that Yin didn't eat that much, because he was obviously going to have to share some of his food with her since she didn't seem likely to leave anytime soon, as she had gone back to scrunching up her toes and staring at nothing.
After only about half an hour, he had completed the meal and the smells of it were bringing growls from his stomach, but still nothing from Yin, who had continued to sit on the floor without a word passing from her lips. He wanted to ask her why she was here, or why Mao and Huang weren't here with her, but he figured he wouldn't get much of a straightforward answer, since it seemed more like she had snuck off on her own, stealing the keys to his apartment on her way out. Whatever the reason was, he was just glad it was her and not one of the others. He enjoyed her presence more than the others for obvious reasons.
"The food's ready, if you want some," he called out for her and she stirred finally, scooting herself forwards towards the middle of the room. Because he had no table in his room or anything else to dine on, they had to make due with putting the food of the floor of his apartment and eating it from a sitting position. He watched as Yin slowly collected her small helping, holding the plate and chopsticks in her hands awkwardly. Finally she placed the plate on her lap and attempted to eat the food that was on it, but she didn't seem that skilled at eating noodles with a chopstick. They kept sliding back off, plopping back on her plate. The smallest of frowns was beginning to show on her face. About done with his first plate, he couldn't help but take pity on her. He placed his nearly empty plate to the side and moved over to her, removing her chopsticks from her hand.
She reached out to take them back pitifully, but he ignored it and captured some noodles, bringing them to her mouth. He didn't even have to tell her to open her mouth, she just opened it expectantly, chomping down on the noodles once they were past her lips. Once done with those, he would give her some more until all the noodles on her plate were gone and all that remained was food that would be easier to lift up with chopsticks. He handed back her chopsticks and she took them, her hand bumping awkwardly into his as she tried to get her grip back on them in the correct areas. He moved back to where he had been before and finished what was on his plate, quickly filling it up once more. He was on his third plate, his final one, by the time she finished hers and got up with it, taking it to the sink to rinse it off.
"Oh, you don't need to do that," He said to her as she walked past, "I can do it."
But she ignored him and kept walking over. He sighed and finished his food, tilting the plate back to get the scrape the last morsels into his mouth. There was a crash behind him and he turned quickly to see Yin hunched over the sink. He was by her side in less than a second, taking in what had happened. Her plate had slipped from her hands, breaking in the sink. A shard of it had cut her hand, which she held to her chest in a somewhat protective manner, though her eyes were still blank. He reached out and tenderly grabbed her hand, inspecting the wound. It wasn't deep, nor was it big, but it was bleeding a lot. Already the skirt of her dress had a few blood drops on it.
He pulled it so that it was held under the running water, washing away the blood even though it kept coming out. He got out the small medical box he kept around just in case he ever needed it and removed some rubbing alcohol. He removed the top, and turned it upside down over a dishtowel. Removing her hand from under the water, he held it up so he could see it better in the light. Positioning the towel over her cut, he looked down at her. She was waiting expectantly, her eyes staring at the towel in his hand.
"This is going to hurt a bit," he said, then pressed the towel down on the wound. Immediately her body tensed and he felt her hand come up, gripping the side of his shirt. But her eyes never changed, they remained the same vacant look, still locked onto the towel. He removed it, finally and dabbed at the wound with the dry part of the towel. It looked like the blood was tricking to a stop now, so he got ready to put on the band aid, quickly applying to it and throwing out all of the scraps left over, including the towel, which now had blood on it, and the broken pieces of the plate, careful not to cut himself on it.
"I told you I could wash your dished for you," He sighed later as he was cleaning off the rest of the plates and bowls used. She said nothing, but stood behind him, her other hand running gently over the band aid, her eyes down.
"Your dress is ruined, too," he pointed out, and she stopped to spread out her dress to stare at the blood on it. Usually he would try to rub the blood off with a wet cloth, but he knew it would just stain her dress further, so he decided against it. Better to let it look like she had nothing but a nosebleed rather than she went out and slaughtered someone. They would just have to get her a new dress tomorrow. He grabbed her injured hand in his, running his fingers lightly over the band aid. Her eyes caught his.
"It doesn't hurt still, does it?" She shook her head, "Well that's good, then. Don't you think it's about time you went back?"
She shook her head again and he sighed, turning away to go back to sitting on the ground, wondering what to do now. She came up behind him and sat down pressing her back against his. He turned to ask her what she was doing when she tilted her head to the side, letting her bangs cascade over her relaxed and gentle face. A small smile tugged at her lips. Her injured hand creeped out, stopping to lie on his, her fingers falling into the spaces between his hands, fitting perfectly with his. She squeezed his hand lightly and kept her hand there, not making any move to remove it.
He slipped his hand out from under hers and she quickly looked over at him. He turned, still in a sitting position and grabbed her arm, pulling her towards him. He hoisted her up into his lap and held her close to his chest, his chin resting on her head. Her hand reached up hesitantly, gently hooking itself onto his shirt. She grabbed the material in her hand, and turned her head so her forehead was flush against his neck. Snuggling up to him, she felt at ease. Her eyes closed as she listened to his chest beat in his heart. He, too, closed his eyes, repositioning his head so his cheek rested on the top of her head. Holding her close like this, he was the most relaxed he had ever been, the most peaceful, like everything was right with the world.
Hope you guys liked it. :D Please review!